During this morning’s trading session, the share price of Middlesea Insurance plc shed 7% to the €0.93 level on volumes of 4,000 shares. This was the first time in three months that this equity dropped below the €1.00 value after the equity had rallied to a 2010 high of €1.17 on 20 July as the group reported in its Interim Directors’ statement (published on 17 May 2010) that it returned to profitability.

However the group’s interim results on 12 August failed to generate support with the share price dropping to a three-month low.

Following two sessions of inactivity, HSBC Bank Malta plc shed 1.4% to the €2.801 level across ten trades amounting to 6,450 shares. Meanwhile Bank of Valletta plc touched an intra-day high of €3.23 before easing lower to the €3.20 level, representing a 0.5% increase over the previous close. Just under 11,900 BOV shares exchanged today.

International Hotel Investments plc closed unchanged at the €0.83 level after recovering from an intra-day low of €0.81 across twelve trades amounting to 32,466 shares. Shareholders have until next Wednesday 29 September to opt to sell their bonus share issue entitlement back to the Company at the nominal value of €1.00 per share.

Elsewhere, GO plc dropped by 0.5% to close at €1.84 while Malta International Airport plc climbed 1.2% to regain the €1.559 level on volumes of 6,143 shares.

Overall, the Malta Stock Exchange Share Index slipped another 0.5% to 3,353.483 points – just 12 points above the 2010 low.

On the bond market, high trading activity of €1.85 million was registered in the 20-year Malta Government Stock issue with the price rising in line with the increase in bid prices by the Central Bank of Malta stockbroker. Eurozone yields declined following the Treasury auctions in Ireland, Greece and Portugal.

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